WEEE-recycling specialist Overton Recycling has said it is back to business as usual today (April 26) following a suspected arson attack at its Dudley reprocessing plant over the Easter weekend.
The fire services were called to the West Midlands plant at 12.12 pm on Saturday April 23, with six crews from across the region attending a fire which had broken out in plastic waste stored on the Rufford Street site in the town of Lye.
Overton Recycling currently handles 40,000 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) at its Dudley plant, which is the headquarters of the family firm.
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Fire Service told letsrecycle.com that approximately 30 tonnes of material was involved in the fire but crews had successfully tackled the blaze.
She added: Radiated heat had also affected a single story framed factory unit, which is adjacent to the site. About 5% of the building was affected by the heat. We had got four main jets, three pump water relays and two BAs [breathing apparatus] on site.
The incident was deemed closed by West Midlands Fire Service this morning.
Dean Overton, managing director at Overton Recycling, said: It broke out in our storage facility and it has affected a maximum of a couple of bags of plastic and that is it. It is now business as usual here.
We were very lucky because we have strict safety procedures and a security guard we have taken on, who came on site and alerted the fire service. They got to it and put it out very quickly.
Mr Overton added that a fire officer on site had confirmed that it was an arson attack and said there had been a few suspicious activities in the days leading up to the fire. He added that the attack took place alongside three other incidents of suspected arson in the Lye area.
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